Giant Swallowtail

I'm just back from Texas, where I saw many beautiful flowers and butterflies. This is a picture of the Giant Swallowtail in the "Butterfly Haus" at Wildseed Farm outside of Fredericksburg. This butterfly hous was great because it had only Texas butterflies and there were hostplants in the enclosure so that the butterflies could mate and lay eggs. Classical music was playing as we walked around, it was very lovely . These butterflies lay their eggs on citrus, prickly ash, and other plants. I saw one at the Tucson Botanical Garden fluttering around a grapefruit tree, but it wouldn't stay in one place long enough for a photo, and I never saw it lay eggs.

Box Elder Bug

This is a box elder bug. They generally feed on box elder trees, but I found this one under a maple. The tree has not yet leafed out, but the bugs have become active. I think they are lovely: black with thin red lines. Many people think they are pests, even though they do little damage to trees. They can become numerous and invade dwellings when they are looking for shelter in the fall. If they are a problem for you, make sure your home is tight: caulk openings and put in weatherstripping to keep them out. Once they are inside, vacuuming is the best way to deal with them. I saw only adults, so I think they are looking for love right now. Later on they will lay eggs that will develop into nymphs.

To most people, any small crawly thing is a bug. A fly is a bug, a centipede is a bug, even an earthworm is a bug. But to an entomologist, only something in the order hemiptera is called a bug. The box elder bug is a true bug, and you can tell because of the v-shape on its back. "Hemiptera" means half-wing, and the V marks the wing where it changes from hard to membranous. Stink bugs are also true bugs.

February is always spring in Berkeley, as evidenced by the activity of the insect and plants. The cabbage whites are flying, the birds are singing, and so many things are in bloom: manzanitas, acacias, daphne, oxalis, and on and on. We had our rain in January, so Feburary is a time to enjoy all the flowers that result.

Weeds

This is the herb garden that I gave to my daughter on December 25th. All those lovely pots AND the ladder came from Urban Ore; it was a great deal! One of the herbs was parsley, which Anise Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars like to eat. But there is so little parsley in the city, we would see hardly any Anise Swallowtails if they depended on this herb. There would also be very few of this butterfly if they depended on their original host, yampah. When the Europeans moved in, they destroyed most of this native plant. But they also brought with them that common weed, fennel, which the butterflies learned to use. Anise Swallowtails are one of those butterflies that has learned to live in cities because it thrives on weeds. Many other butterflies have made this switch; West Coast Ladies, Red Admirals, and Common Buckeyes, to name a few. So, be thankful for the weeds; their tenacity means that there is plenty of food for the caterpillars.

Spider Season

I I know this blog is supposed to be about butterflies, but I also like other insects and even other arthropods. So I am straying a bit. Halloween is over, but it is still spider season. More spiders are mature adults this time of year than any other. That is why you see them everywhere. My photos are not great, but that is a garden spider at the top. People are rarely bitten by spiders around here, but people are still scared of them, and doctors use the term "spider bite" as a catch-all for any small wound or infection they they are unable to identify. They are loath to say they don't know. Spiders may look like fearsome animals, but they are really lovely creatures that eat insects. If you want fewer insects in the house, let the house spiders tend their web indoors.

Cross Pollination at UC Botanical Garden

On Sunday, Jessica and I had a table at the Cross Pollination Event at the UC Botanical Garden. The day was gray and only the most avid gardeners came, but it was nice that way. I gave a talk about butterfly gardening which was well attended. They laughed at my jokes, which made me feel like a good speaker. Friends of Five Creeks (http://www.fivecreeks.org/) asked me to speak at one of their meetings. I was flattered. Jessica was great and I was so thankful to have her help and her company. She came to my house afterward for a cup of tea and a lemon bar. It was the perfect end to a lovely day.

Another Butterfly Presentation

That is Emerson Elementary School on the left, now over 100 years old! I did two butterfly presentations there last week. As usual, the kids really enjoyed seeing the live specimens. What was unusual is that I brought an adult, a live luna, for them to look at. "Is it real?" many asked. Yes, it is real. "Is it alive?" was the other question. Yes, it is a moth, it rests during the day and flies at night. It did look like a beautiful piece of art, but it was far more beautiful than any art I have ever seen.

Lunas

I've been raising lunas this summer. I know you have seen them on TV in that ad for the sleep aid, Lunesta. I know why they chose lunas. They are night-flying. But more than that they are beautiful in a calm peaceful way.
I have raised them before, and when a friend told me she wanted caterpillars, I went on the internet to find a livestock provider. I paid for about a dozen eggs, and they arrived in due time. I gave some eggs to friends, so I didn't have too many to raise. Big green caterpillars that like to eat liquidamber. They like other trees, too, but I can't remember which ones.
So of course when the adults emerged, I had to let them mate and lay eggs. Except then I had hundreds of mouths to feed. I want to say thank you to all the neighbors whose leaves I appropriated. As a result, I had another successful generation.
I thought the cocoons would overwinter, and the adults would emerge in the spring. I was stunned to see adults had emerged on the evening of September 13. I gasped! On no, thousands of mouths to feed! I decided that I just couldn't do it, since the trees would be getting fall colors and losing their leaves soon. I can't release them, since they are not native here. And I can't let them flap themselves to death in the house. So I am putting them in the freezer. It is hard, but I think it is the best solution, and I will have beautiful specimens for years to come. But I think next time I will find a native moth to rear.